Why is planting plugs instead of larger plants in a landscape often a better idea? Let's start planting the landscape design for my backyard and I'll show you. Read More

When we harvest our lawn plugs for transplanting, we pull the donor plugs in a tight grouping (approx 3" apart) which makes for easy hole filling using the "dump" method.   Read More

Is this a familiar sight in your yard? Wild onion or wild garlic popping up in your lawn in the winter and early spring? Wild onion, left untreated, can spread and eventually overtake an entire lawn. In fact one of the many aromas of spring is the pungent smell of freshly mowed wild onion!  Read More

I have a house in Waves NC on the Outer Banks, 12 lots back from the oceanfront, so my soil is really just sand.  It has always been a rental property and until I acquired it last Spring, the yard had been pretty much neglected. Until I applied Round Up, I had a sparse stand of centipede grass and other undesirable weeds. Read More

Centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides) arrived in the U.S. from China in 1916. It is a slow growing grass that creeps along the ground with the aid of above-ground shoots, called stolons. Short, upright stems resemble a centipede, hence the name centipedegrass. Read More

Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloidesis) is the grass of the Great Plains. It is one of the true native grasses, one that buffalo grazed on back when they roamed the plains. These days it is grown for its drought tolerance and its ability to adapt to clay soil and other tough conditions. It requires 50% less water than does bluegrass and fescue and like Kentucky bluegrass, will go into dormancy when conditions are very dry and green up after a good rain. Read More

As I sit here with my morning coffee, local nurseries are scurrying around like busy bees setting up their plant stands at the likes of Lowe’s, Wal-Mart and Home Depot. This is an exciting time of the year for us gardeners, anxious to see the tried and true varieties, as well as any new offerings of flowers and vegetables. Read More